March 21 

On Tuesday the 20th, Laisenia Qarase, the prime minister of Fiji, his wife and several ministers, made a special flight from Fiji's capital, Suva, to visit the hotel where our expedition is staying to welcome us. I did not recognize him at first glance. He was sitting with his wife in the conference room -- not in the presidium where you would expect him to be, but in a first row like other attendees of the event. He was dressed in a simple shirt with short sleeves and shorts, and did not differ in any way from the other visitors to the press conference given by the Russian delegation.

"It is a privilege to have very distinguished and unique visitors to our shores," said Qarase in his welcoming speech. "We do marvel at the achievements of those who designed, put up and operated this vehicle (the Mir space station)."

Mir Reentry Expedition Journal

Part 1: Meet the major players and learn how Bob and Rick Citron put their team together in "The Hunt Begins" , the first installment of SPACE.com "s Mir Expedition Journal.

Part 2: The Trackers Reach Fiji

Finally, Citron shares his thoughts on why Mir matters .

"We are most grateful that you have found it convenient to come to Fiji and to stage your expedition from here. Even though we dont know much about Mir, I am sure that all of us recognize the tremendous impact that the activities on Mir, and the building of such a station have on humans on this planet in terms of the possible impact on communication, engineering, design and so forth."

"Whether we are Russians or not, we must obviously benefit from such activity in one way or another," said the prime minister in his concluding remarks. "It is an achievement that enriches mankind, its efforts to find better ways to do things and, hopefully, at the end of the day, making this planet a pleasant place to stay in."

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I was very impressed by both the human warmth of the prime minister and his obvious interest in space exploration. In my speech, I thanked him "from the bottom of my heart" on behalf of all of the Russian delegation members for the very hospitable treatment we had received from the Fijian people. I also said that "the choice of Fiji as a base for Mirreentry Expedition has a deeply symbolic meaning since people of ancient cultures, like Fijians, have always considered themselves not just earthly beings, but inhabitants of the universe."

Mirreentry Expedition, Inc. had prepared a special gift for the prime minister. Around 6:30 p.m. local time we all went to the beach to watch Mir pass over Fiji. The sky was cloudy, so everybody doubted we would see the station. Our hopes almost faded, but suddenly, exactly at 6:43 p.m. local time and at 35 degrees over the horizon, as predicted by Bob Citron, probably the worlds best satellite tracker, we caught a glimpse of a pale blue dot in the sky among the clouds.

This was probably the last time when people in Fiji could say for sure that they saw and videotaped the station.

The prime minister also made it clear to the Mirreentry participants that he had taken seriously their assurance that no piece of Mir hardware would fall on Fiji.

However, the Fiji Times issued a warning on March 20 to Fijians in the light of the upcoming event. This is what it recommended to the people:

• Stay inside after midnight tomorrow (i.e. from March 22) as the Russian space station Mir prepares to drop out of the sky.
• The public has been advised to remain indoors and avoid traveling.

"This is the wrong thing to tell the people of Fiji: "Dont do it," laughed one Fijian who had read these warnings. "Now everybody will step out of their houses and watch Mir."

The Mirreentry Expedition has been fully supported by Air Fiji, a local air charter company. It is a relatively small airline that consists of a fleet of 10 regional aircraft. Air Fiji has been operating from the Fiji islands for 34 years. Its fleet consists mainly of Brazilia and Banderante turboprop aircraft.

"I am very excited to be associated with this expedition. I am looking forward to seeing the big splash. It is a lifetime experience," Seru Taylor, fleet captain of Air Fiji, told SPACE.com. Seru has over 3,000 hours of total flight time. He will fly one of three aircraft, which may join the Mir reentry mission.

According to Seru, this mission may require all kinds of piloting skills, including nighttime flying and navigation, as well as flying in clouds.

Seru does not think that the flight will be dangerous. "I know that I am safe since I will stay 125 miles (200 kilometers) away from the Mir fall trajectory. For me its an honor to do this. It is a lifetime chance which may peak my pilot's career," said Seru

Serus opinion on the safety of the mission was shared by Capt. Steve Tizzard, Fiji's chief air safety controller. "I am more than happy with it and I have no concerns about it. It is parallel to the course of Mirs fall," he told SPACE.com.

"We are very proud to fly the cosmonauts and a team of scientists and the whole expedition up there, and hopefully be able to get the footage of Mir's reentry," said Ken MacDonald, CEO of Air Fiji. "I would like to think that this mission will convince the tourists that the Fiji islands, despite a coup which happened in Fiji in May 2000, is a very safe and enjoyable place to visit. I am very thankful to the Russian cosmonauts to be here and to be part of this expedition," he said.

Air Fiji even went as far as to offer its aircraft for the mission for free. The offer was graciously accepted by the mission command.

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Support for the mission grows

Fiji is not the only country in the south Pacific region throwing its full support behind Mirreentry Expedition.

When Mirreentry flies turboprops to watch the station's fall it will have to make a refueling stop at Tonga, a small island nation south of Fiji.

"Air Fiji has organized Tonga so that our Russian friends wont need visas to go there. All that they need to bring is their passports," said Bob Citron of Mirreentry. "In addition they organized the VIP lounge for all Mirreentry mission participants while they are in transit and while the plane is being refueled -- both on the way to see Mir and back. They also have arranged the hospitality of some sort at Tonga for us."

"On this trip we have the complete hospitality of the Tonga government. The Tonga civil aviation authority and the ground-support facility people will be very involved in the process because they close normally at night and they have organized a plan on the flight back [for] Mirreentry. It will be nighttime -- they will light up the runway for us," said Citron.

Citron already has some experience with Tonga. When a submarine volcano erupted in Tonga in 1968, he dispatched a team of volcanologists to the island.

The King of Tonga held an expedition and three of his boats collected lava samples from the volcano.

There is a very good chance that there will be three aircraft dispatched along the several thousand miles of the final path of the Mir reentry course. Two regional aircraft Brazilia and Banderante from Air Fiji -- will observe the beginning of the stations reentry. A larger jet a Boeing 737 should be available to carry the main body of the expedition to the point where the Mirs burning and disintegration will be most visible.

"Although this jet is not yet in place, everyone on the expedition, including the participants, are working towards this goal," Rick Citron told SPACE.com. "If the jet is obtained, the opportunity to see the most critical events will be increased, including the breakup of the station."

According to Citron, Le Bas International is assisting in obtaining this aircraft, which is a very critical part of the overall mission. Without such an aircraft some of the most important science will be lost, and the breakup of the station may not be visible to anyone in the world.

"This will probably be the most spectacular celestial event of the century, if not the millennium, and everyone involved wants to be able to capture its splendor and its importance, for posterity," remarked Citron.